About eight years ago we had submitted a painting proposal to the National Park Service for the restoration of the Frederick Law Olmsted Historic Site in Brookline, MA.
We were not awarded the project, much to my disappointment. Fast forward to 2018 and we are working directly across the street at a residential painting project and I was saddened to see the winning bidder failed miserably at delivering a durable and long-term solution to this historic property’s needs.
The three photos below reveal a panoply of problems that include the following:
1. Intercoat adhesion failure
2. A dirty substrate
3. Complete absence of mechanical preparation (sanding) or well adhered primer evidenced by the clean release of the paint
4. Improper use of patching material at the green water table
5. Visible lack of feather sanding of previous failed areas
6. Visible touch ups of failed areas with zero preparation apparent
Needless to say, it’s a travesty to find this kind of careless work on such a venerable historic property. We’ve reached out to their property care manager via another manager we work with at the National Park Service and hope we can provide them with a more successful solution next time they paint.
